1757. Carta de José da Costa Martins para o seu pai, Luís da Costa Martins, negociante.

Family letter from José da Costa Martins to his father, Luís da Costa Martins, merchant.

The author complains to his father about his failing to return home, believing that they would no longer recognize each other after being apart for so many years. Also, he finds it strange when his father tells him he did not receive his mail.

Luís da Costa Martins was accused of bigamy by the Inquisition. In fact, he was married in Lisbon when he went to Pernambuco, Brazil, and there he got married again. It was his friend Manuel Rodrigues who, having seen some letters from the defendant's family in Lisbon, convinced him to go back to Portugal and confess his crime. Although he argued that he got married in Brazil out of fear of being killed by that woman's family, Luís da Costa Martins was sentenced to four years of exile in the Algarve, and also to some spiritual penances.